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pangolins are shy
secretive creatures
quite unlike anything else on earth
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their claws can dig through concrete
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their thin sticky tongue
is as long as their bodies
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they could travel along on their hind
legs
these animals have walked the planet for
over 40 million years
and there are eight distinct species
four are found in africa
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and four in asia
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pangolins are the world’s only truly
scaly
mammals
their scales just like human fingernails
are made from keratin
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but this remarkable natural armor is the
cause of their destruction
in the last 20 years the demand for
pangolin scales for use in traditional
asian medicines has decimated their
numbers worldwide
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today a pangolin will be taken from the
wild every five minutes
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is a nostalgia
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in namibia conservationists maria
diekmann is on the front line of the
battle to save these animals
she’s been contacted by a stranger with
a pangolin to sell
we see that it’s alive and i can’t
convince this guy
i’ve got to walk away
that’s really hard
but if i don’t walk away and then i pay
him an extraordinary amount of money
then i promise you tomorrow he’s back in
the bush and he’s getting the next one
i’ve got a 50 50 chance
you can film for a couple more minutes
and then camera away
the call has brought maria to a poor
township where selling a pangolin could
bring great wealth
but she’s determined to pay nothing to
ensure no value is placed on these
animals
i’d love to see her see if she’s okay
but if you keep her she is going to die
she’s going to die there’s not a
question about it there’s nothing you
can feed her
nobody in the world has kept penguins in
captivity except for three people i’m
one of them
this is a guy who’s taking an
opportunity he probably just wants some
extra money for his family maybe even a
good thing to put his kids in school who
knows and he thinks that this is a way
to do it
after a tense four hour negotiation
maria leaves
with a pangolin in hand
but this is just the beginning
every moment comes it’s it’s really a
life and death situation
anglings are naturally difficult to keep
in captivity
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fortunately this traumatized animal will
have a second chance thanks to maria
she’s one of only a handful of people in
the world to have successfully
rehabilitated pangolins
but for everyone she saves
thousands more are being taken from the
wild
the pangolin is so sought after it’s
considered the most widely trafficked
animal in the world critically
endangered and facing extinction
it is a difficult battle and the odds
aren’t with them maria’s fight for
pangolins began just five years ago
she runs an organization that rescues
africa’s lesser-known wild animals
it was this work that led to a truly
life-changing encounter
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you
